Sabah : Sukau.. background audio jungle_noise

Fri : Transport mess As usual the transport wasn't as easy as it was supposed to be. Went to the back of the M hotel, but people directed me to the other bus terminal 4Km away . So since I had to do some urgent work caused by a problem with the PC in the last internet café, I did that. Then walked upto the bus terminal. I had to take a collective taxi, to the junction. Then wait at the junction I didn't know whether a bus would come so eventually I hitched a ride in the back of a pickup. It was a wide road cos of the palm oil trucks, but it still isn't paved; it has lots of small stones so I was moving fast, but getting covered in dirt. Then we got a flat tire. for some reason he had got the a wrench which didn't fit. The principals wife was in the car, and eventually her 11 year old boy drove the family car up . I was lucky they took me 2Km past the village to the hotel at the end of the road. When I arrived I found that other people there had phoned the hotel and they had sent a minibus at 30Rm to collect them. In fact they had left Sandakan at midday. Fri : Sukau Inn Walking in the trees at the back I found strange holes in the ground all over had someone being trying to make elephant footprints ?, turns out 3 weeks before elephants broke through electric fence of the palm planation and came past the hotel. video of elephant footprints Also a logboat passed the Inn. The logs are quite small though. video of log boat People said the years before there used to be 1Km of log wharves at Sandakan, but now there are none. The last big trees are being cut 3 hours inland from the reserve at Danim Valley. Cutting virgin forest will end by the end of this year, presumably coincidentally there will be none left. Log Boat 1

Sat- Walked to village No interaction at the hotel So I had the idea to walk to the village to interact with the locals. I walked around the village. At the lorry ferry I tried a new fruit called beluno a cross between a mango & soursop. beluno fruit beluno tree At the sports hall played badminton against the expert kids. Was planning to take the ferry to the other side, but It seemed difficult to find out what was going on. Saw palm plantation and cleared land protected from elephants by electric fences. Walked back nothing exciting. Sat- Afternoon Animal Spotting Cruise sukau_tourists At 4 we set off up the river with the father, then down a side channel where there were other tourist boats. sukau_tourists About 11 other boats of tourists. When they stopped to look we followed : snakes, lizard, macaques then a large probiscus looking very like a potbellied dutchman playing with his tail. We missed the wild pigs. By 5.15 there 12 boats in the convoy the rain got heavy & we got soaked as it took an hour to get back. (well actually I had an umbrella) probiscis

Sun - Morning cruise

Again nothing amazing for me cos 1. the animals were so far away not close like in a zoo 2. I've seen most before : main river saw herons & hornbills, long tailed macaques, probiscus monkey ( ..close enough to photo), a dead looking lizard, the guide was experienced, but not informative & dynamic. On the side river we saw a very small crocodile. And then the channel was full of tourist boats. Channel sukau_tourists sukau_tourists Once we reached the oxbow lake we followed the other tourist boats. Too far away to photo we saw an Orang Utan sitting at the top of a tree then he climbed down. 12 tourist boats macaques and distant probiscus again. At least it didn't rain.

Wildlife is Better on TV

Mostly I travel to get the real experience for myself, but when it comes to wildlife & tribes I think it's best understood from TV. They spend months filming & have all the long lenses & experience. A 2 hour cruise is not as good as a TV prog unless you get lucky and a 2 feet away from an elephant/crocodile orang utan etc Realities : You won't see all the animals on your list. they will be far away they will be facing away they'll move away the crocodile was 30cm long you see the same plain animals again & again.

Mon - Decide to leave Sukau cos .. Malaysian Muslim area so reserved not smiley. I thought about staying one more day, but no. Sukau Inn was a OK it has a nice riverside location, Good Price 20 for B&B, 10 for big dinner plus about 17 each animal spotting cruise and it has forest at one side, much better than the 250Rm packages of the 10 resorts around. but the situation is a little boring. The forest isn't so exciting to walk in. The people are around are almost all Muslim, so as in West Malaysia they tend to be reserved/unconfident and poor in English. (When I go to other countries people are more smiley and open.) The atmosphere wasn't great you could chat to other foreigners, but workers stayed in the kitchen cos only the son speaks English so one feels left out and one doesn't know what's going on. Also the place is 2.5Km away from the village, so you couldn't just pop there to shop etc. Like why did other tour boats sightsee right opposite, but our tours never went there, but to places far away ? Also it rained quite often and mosquitoes. I also decided not to travel further than Lahad Datu as I'm not really interested in nature so much to want to visit expensive difficult to get to places like Danum Valley or Tabin or Tawau park . Nature watching is better on TV. Nor am I am I interested in diving so I am not bothered about Sipidan and it also sounds like an expensive tourist trap.

Mon - Travel to Lahad Datu Walked in the village again ..nothing much just an old house I walked to village saw an old house. Then the hotel minibus came past and I joined the other 5 guests on rough road to the junction. My second time on this road, second puncture. With others took a Foreigner price minibus.

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